


Finishing It

by DerpyDev



Category: Original Work
Genre: Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-27 16:40:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20763560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DerpyDev/pseuds/DerpyDev
Summary: A short horror story that was originally meant for Flash Fiction Online, but since it was rejected I'll just leave it here :P





	Finishing It

Courtney Quinn knew there was no turning back as soon as she saw the old cabin. She knew this as her car drove into its muddy drive, and she knew it as she stepped out into the forest's rain. The stars shone down as she went to the trunk, pulling out all she'd need for the night that was ahead of her.

'This time,' she thought, 'I'll give it no fear.'

It took her two trips to bring her items to the door. In the first trip, she trudged through the mud with her pack. In the second, she brought her gun. The only sounds she heard as she fumbled with her keys were the sounds of rain against the soil, and the sound of her heavy breathing. The door creaked open a moment later, and when she shone her torch inside, she saw a room she hadn't seen since she was a child.

As her muddy boots patted against the wooden floor, old memories returned. She remembered laughing on the floor with her dolls, she remembered knitting on the couch with her mother... but most of all, she remembered peering out the window at night, seeing the horrible thing in the shadows peering back with its hollow eyes. She remembered every tear she shed when it watched her sleep. She remembered every day she spent inside because she saw it move in a tree.

She shook her head as if to shake off the consuming dread. She had work to do.

First, she went to the door. She measured it by eye, and she took out her hammer. She added a nail to one wall, then one to the other, before finally tying a length of string between them. Her tripwire stood just above her ankle, just where it needed to be.

Next came the step she dreaded. Out of her pack came a sealed off bag, filled with ice and a slab of raw meat. She'd seen the Thing eat a dog whole, so she knew it would come for it. With shaking hands, she hammered a hook into the wall outside the door. It haunted her to stand there, with her back to the storm as she used her tools. Even as she worked, she kept finding herself looking back, peering into the darkness. But there was never anything but the rain and the trees. So she'd always turn back to her labor.

She stopped just before opening the bait. She could already faintly smell it, and if she opened it, the Thing would certainly be able to. Her heart beat harder the longer she looked at the package. If she opened it, it would come. It would come for her, as it had before. It would take from her, as it had before. And if she was unwise, it would kill her, as it had tried before.

She took a deep breath and swore under her breath, feeling her heart rattle in her chest. 'I'm not afraid,' she assured herself. And then, after wiping the sweat from her forehead, she opened the package. And still, there was no sound but the pattering of rain. But the smell was enough to fill the gap. With gritted teeth, she hung the bait onto the hook, and found herself walking inside once more at a rapid pace. But she didn't close the door. She only left it cracked. With trembling feet, she walked towards the center of the room and pulled an old chair out, facing it towards the door. She sat down, pointed her torch towards the door, and laid her shotgun onto her lap.

And then, she waited. As she stared at the door, hearing the rain drip through the moldy roof, every creak left her shaking. Every rustle of the leaves left her swiveling in her seat. And every breath left her feeling more and more like a scared little girl.

'I'm not afraid of it. I'm not a child,' she scolded herself. 'I'm stronger than it. I always have been. I'm not afraid.'

As if in a challenge, she heard the groaning of old wood on the porch.

All at once, her breathing stopped. She wondered if she'd once again been imagining things. But then, she heard another. She heard one after another as it stalked across the porch, its heavy feet thumping against the wood again and again. There was no imagining it. The Thing had come.

She pointed her shotgun at the door, her finger grazing the trigger. She held it steady, her breathing heavy and hard. The stomping stopped right in front of the cabin, right before it entered. And then, she heard a single, deafening noise. A gurgle, a roar, and a scream all at once as it devoured the bait in one ferocious bite.

'I'm not afraid of you,' she mouthed at the door, her gun still raised. And then, she spoke out loud.

"I'm not afraid!"

The world went still for a moment. And then, its long, crooked fingers slipped through the crack in the door, and the door creaked open. The Thing stood there, its hollow eyes staring her down once more, just as it had when she was a scared little girl. And in that moment, she knew that she was still that little girl.

She felt tears run down her face as it took the first step forward. She felt her heart beat out of her chest as it took a second and third step. And then, it bellowed out another terrible scream and charged.

She wanted to cry, to scream, to do anything but sit there. But instead, she pointed her gun square at its head.

"I'm more than my fear," she said to the Thing. And then, it tripped on the wire she'd laid out, and toppled to the ground before her.

"And I'm stronger than you." And with those words, she fired her gun into its skull.


End file.
